Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Mr. Gostin and Mr. Konyndyk, I'm very pleased to have the opportunity to speak with you today. Given everything that you told us earlier, I'd like to speak with you for six hours. Unfortunately, I have only six minutes. I would encourage you to provide documents that relate to your thoughts regarding the questions that we'll be asking you. Your testimony is very valuable to us as we look for solutions.
I'd like both of you to answer the first question. When mainland China was facing a massive contagion, very few people thought that the United States of America would become the largest source of infection on the planet.
Given your extensive experience with global pandemics and your knowledge of health care systems and plans, did you anticipate the magnitude of the pandemic affecting our neighbours in the United States, with whom we share a very large border?
What do you think are the main reasons for this?